Hi! Adam Robert Young here
and I thought today as part of my Exploring Brisbane series
that it'd be a great idea to put City Cycles
and Lime scooters head to head
to see which one is the better way
to get around the CBD of Brisbane,
particularly if you're visiting.
City Cycles are funded by Brisbane City Council
and have been around since 2010
Lime scooters, on the other hand, are new to the scene,
only arriving in Brisbane at the end of 2018.
So I decided to hit the streets and find out for myself.
I thought "Hey, they're both convenient"
"They'll both be fun. It'll be easy!"
(sigh)
But what ended up happening was probably the worst
video I've ever made!
Anyway, check it out.
On the first day, I decided to try the City Cycles.
Now, In Queensland, the laws are actually a little more
laid-back than they are in other states,
so you can ride cycles and mobility devices
on the footpath, which makes them quite convenient.
However the law also states that you must wear a helmet,
and the first problem that I came across
when I was trying to use the City Cycles
was that very few actually had helmets with them.
And I really didn't wanna risk a $130 fine
for riding without a helmet.
Thankfully at the bike stand that I tried
there were a few bikes that had helmets with them.
Checking out a bike is actually pretty simple.
As a local you can use a Go Card,
but most tourists would probably apply for
a 24-hour temporary pass
which costs $2
and you have unlimited use of the bikes
for that 24-hour period
and you don't pay extra
as long as you dock the bike at a station
every 30 minutes.
If you go over the 30 minutes
then you do have to start paying a charge.
Obtaining a temporary pass and
releasing a bike is actually pretty simple.
You just put in the code that's on the pass,
a PIN number that you select,
and choose the bike number that you want to get out.
Alright, so
I've found one with a helmet,
got the sexy helmet,
ready to go and try it out.
OK, so
I've just dropped off my first City Cycle
at the drop-off point.
Actually I was planning on going a bit further
but I discovered
30 minutes actually goes really quickly!
The other thing I discovered is how unfit I am.
Going uphill on those bikes,
it's not easy, so
if you're looking for a workout
that's probably a good way to start.
But,
it is quite inconvenient
because that 30 minutes goes really quickly.
And then you've got to actually find
one of the drop-off points
to drop the bike off at.
So I actually went out of my way
to make one of these 'cause I was getting close to
that 30-minute mark.
So now that I've docked it,
I'm actually gonna pull it out once again
to go to where I was actually trying to get in the first place
So here I am at stop 1
going from the city, along the river
and around South Bank and back again,
doing the full loop.
And this is Wilson's Outlook.
It's a really great spot to come for panoramic city views,
with the Storey Bridge, the buildings, the river,
great for photographs, videos, timelapse, whatever.
If you remember the timelapse from my first Brisbane video,
that was taken right here.
Now, how easy was it to get here with the City Cycle?
Well, apart from the annoyance of always having to
keep an eye on that 30-minute mark,
it was pretty good.
You just ride along the river
which is reasonably flat,
and they've got elevators
just here there's elevators
that you can take all the way up here to Wilson's Outlook.
And then you can ride along the bike path here
back down along the riverside.
So to go from the city to South Bank,
you've gotta cross the Storey Bridge.
Now, on the City Cycle,
that can be a bit of a challenge.
I've come up, and the path that leads up to the bridge
is so steep that I just couldn't do it on a bike.
I had to get off and walk it up the steep footpath.
And now I've come to another challenge...
Stairs.
This is gonna be extra fun.
Well I can tell you now
City Cycles are definitely not light!
Alright, off to the Storey Bridge!
So I've just dropped my bike off
at the southern end of the Storey Bridge
and I've found myself with a bit of a dilemma.
There's 11 bikes here,
but only one helmet,
and that's the one that I came with.
So,
do I leave the helmet here with the bike that I've docked,
go and grab a drink,
and risk coming back
with
someone having taken a bike with the helmet
and not being able to actually have a bike to ride?
Having to walk back.
Or do I
take the helmet with me?
I'm wondering if this is one of the reasons
why there's so many bikes without helmets?
Maybe people are taking them with them
as they stop to grab a drink or
have lunch or something like that?
I mean, it's not 3 o'clock yet
so there's plenty of cafes still open.
I don't know.
What I have to do is
I actually have to leave the helmet with the bike.
I've gotta do the right thing
and just see
how effective this whole City Cycle thing is.
If I come back and
there's no bike with a helmet to ride,
then I guess that just
puts one point on the side of the Lime scooters.
It's time to go back and see if I can find a bike with a helmet.
Here we go!
Woohoo!
So here's where I actually forgot
that I had my camera set to high-speed recording
which gives slow motion visuals
and it doesn't actually record sound either.
It started raining before I even got to South Bank,
and I kinda had had enough for the day
so this is where I'm actually throwing in the towel.
I'm giving up on City Cycles
at least for the day.
So here I am returning the bike at South Bank.
I didn't do the full loop.
As you would've seen, I gave up long ago.
I'm gonna return this helmet,
so now
adding to the collection at this stand
there'll now be TWO helmets for the 14 bikes.
And there you have my first ever City Cycle experience.
Now a few things I should mention, however.
Firstly, if you do go over the free 30-minute period,
how much do you pay?
It's $2 for the first 30 minutes
beyond that initial 30 minutes
and then, after that,
$5 for each 30-minute period beyond there.
So that whole trip that you saw
would've cost me maybe about
$12-14 for the City Cycle
if I hadn't returned the cycle at all.
Still definitely cheaper than a Lime scooter.
Speaking of Limes,
that's gonna be the topic of my next video,
so that by the end of that we can actually
put them side by side and compare the two
to see which one comes out on top.
There's certainly inconveniences to each of them,
we'll see what the inconveniencee and the good parts
of the Lime scooters are
next video.
So if you got something out of the video,
hit LIKE.
And be sure to subscribe if you're not subscribing yet,
and I'll see you in the next one.